It's a dirty job

But for PR purposes, Land Rover's gotta do it--sponsor the Muddy Buddy competition

February 05, 2006|By Jenny King, Special to the Tribune

When Land Rover set up its booth at seven Muddy Buddy events in 2005, there was an odd twist to the display: no test drives.

Is this any way to introduce prospective buyers to your go-anywhere sport-utility vehicles?

It is if those prospects are covered in mud, which is the way 2,000 competitors finished the Chicago-area race the second Sunday in September.

The final leg of this popular 6-plus-mile duathalon is a crawl to the finish line through a large pit of mud.

"I love this race; it is unique," said Jillian Theobald, a 26-year-old Chicago graduate student who is a three-time Muddy Buddy competitor.

Theobald and her teammate, Tammie Dowers, won in their age group (younger than 50) and placed second overall in the female division.

Theobald said Muddy Buddy participants do the biking-running-mud-slithering course in waves. If you are fast -- she and Dowers, 28, finished in about 35 minutes--not running into people along the route is one of the greatest challenges. The fastest runners, Bryan Glass and Dan McManemy, managed that in 34 minutes and change.

"The course was very crowded, especially for the all-female teams who began last since they quickly caught up to the slower coed teams," said Dowers, a first-time Muddy Buddy competitor.

"It is very fun because it is so different from any other race," she said. "There were many steep sections and, of course, there was the mud pit to crawl through at the end. I think this was the most difficult part."

In Muddy Buddy, a two-person team takes turns running or biking on the five legs of the 10K route. While one team member bikes, for example, the other runs. The biker generally arrives ahead, drops the bike, conquers some kind of hurdle and begins the running leg. They switch at the end of each leg. However, both must crawl through the mud and arrive at the final finish line together.

Dowers and Theobald decorated Dowers' bike with a pink feather boa so each could quickly spot it when it was her turn to ride.

Participants pay $55 each and many dress up in hilarious costumes for pre-race fun. The ones that generally come to mind were the two Vikings. Theobald said she camped out on-site the night before.

Land Rover Certified, the automaker's used-car brand, was the automotive sponsor for Muddy Buddy in 2005. Land Rover figured this would be a great way to meet outdoors enthusiasts who might be interested in pre-owned or new Land Rover products.

"We offered plastic seat covers to people who visited our tent, refreshments and forms for people to take to Land Rover dealers for test drives," said Land Rover's Patricia Morisette. "Those who actually took test drives would receive a gift of Adidas shoes."

Typically the event draws about 1,600 competitors. Chicago, with 2,000, was the best-attended.

Morisette said the race area--the Indian Hills Farm in Gilberts--was not suitable for vehicle test drives, though Land Rovers were on display. Dealers, of course, have test tracks.

Theobald said she and Tammie were aware of the automaker's presence but did not participate in the test-drive promotion.

"I don't really like Adidas shoes, and I lost my flyer thing that allowed me to participate," she said. "I probably wouldn't consider myself a potential Land Rover owner; I am poor and in medical school."

The September 2005 event in Gilberts marked the sixth Muddy Buddy competition in the Chicago area. Muddy Buddy is 7 years old.

The event raises money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which I co-founded 12 years ago in 1993," said Muddy Buddy spokesman Perry Paolini, administrator of athlete services at MESP Inc., a sporting event promoter in Agoura Hills, Calif. He co-founded it in 1993 and since then the foundation has raised more than $7.5 million to buy prosthetics, handcycles and racing wheelchairs for athletes, he said.

Gilberts is back on the slate for the the 2006 Land Rover Certified Muddy Buddy Ride & Run Series with this year's event scheduled for Sept. 10, he said.